Zombies Ate My Neighbors and Ghoul Patrol

Genre: Compilation / Top-Down Action

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local)

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Review:

Zombies Ate My Neighbors and Ghoul Patrol is a Compilation of the two titular Top-Down Action games, the former released in 1993 on the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis, and the latter released in 1994 for the Super Nintendo. Both of these games cast players as teenagers Zeke and Julie as they fight off hordes of various classic (and imaginative) movie monsters while rescuing hapless neighbors.

Here is what I thought of each of the games in this collection:

Game	Genre	# of Players	Grade
Zombies Ate My Neighbors	Top-Down Action	1-2 Co-Op (Local)	C+
tl;dr Zombies Ate My Neighbors is a delightful, nostalgic trip through a pastiche of great movie monster tropes, and the gameplay is nicely varied, but the labyrinthine level designs and somewhat clunky controls make this game frustrating at times, as does it relatively high difficulty and at times seemingly unavoidable hazards. The co-op here is great, though it would have been better with split-screen (which sadly wasn’t possible due to hardware limitations at the time of this game’s original release). All in all, a fun trip down memory lane, but not a great one.
Ghoul Patrol	Top-Down Action	1-2 Co-Op (Local)	D
tl;dr Ghoul Patrol takes all of the frustrations of Zombies Ate My Neighbors and ramps them up to eleven, but retains very little of its predecessor’s nostalgic charm. Add to that some really atrocious, floaty movement, and the only real reason to bother with this game at all is its connection to the first game… and even that isn’t really enough to make this more than an interesting curiosity. It’s not a game you’ll likely enjoy actually playing.

Clearly, between these two games, the real attraction is Zombies Ate My Neighbors, but even this is something of a niche game, with its appeal being more in its fantastic theming and wonderful variety than its quality gameplay. As for Ghoul Patrol, that game is best ignored entirely – movement in the game is atrocious, and any fun and appeal its predecessor had is largely absent here.

One of the core issues with both of these games is their old-fashioned design makes them very unforgiving – players have only 3 lives to play with, and this collection has none of the modern luxuries included in many similar collections, like multiple save states and a rewind feature. At the very least, this compilation does include the ability to save your game and return to it later, rather than resorting to the original game’s archaic password system (still present here). There’s also some promotional art and packaging, as well as a brief video interview with one of the creators of Zombies Ate My Neighbors.

In the end, Zombies Ate My Neighbors and Ghoul Patrol is a package of one fun but flawed classic and one game with very little to redeem it other than its connection to its predecessor. If you have fond memories of this game’s original release, you may find it still brings a smile to your face, even though its flaws are much easier to see now. However, this is a Compilation whose value is largely built on how strong your attachment is to that one game – neither the extra content here nor the Compilation’s second game add much to the overall package here.

tl;dr – Zombies Ate My Neighbors and Ghoul Patrol is a Compilation of two 16-bit Top-Down Action games – one which is a fun but flawed classic, and one that’s just plain awful. There are a handful of extra features included as well, but for the most part this collection’s value will likely depend on how much nostalgia you have for this package’s one worthwhile game.

Grade: C

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